ASSESSMENT POLICIES AND THE FORMATTING OF THE CLASSROOM: THE CASE OF AN ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE DIGITAL TEACHING MATERIAL

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the implications of the use of ready-made classes in Powerpoint format, for the English Language curricular component, in a state public school. The analyses derived from an experience in the context of a supervised English Language curricular internship. The digital material, provided by the Secretary of Education of São Paulo State, is directly linked to a bimonthly external evaluation known as Prova Paulista, whose uses will determine the access of high school students to institutions of higher education. For this, a brief overview of the history of language teaching in Brazil will be made, from the colonization period until the present day. Next, a parallel will be drawn between neoliberalism and the assessment policies. Finally, part of a digital teaching material of English as a Lingua Franca will be analyzed, drawing upon the contributions of the field of Materials Development in Language Teaching (Tomlinson, 2011; Leffa, 2007). The analyses intend to demonstrate how the implementation of such digital materials affects both teachers, whose autonomy is curtailed, and students from public schools, who are subjected to the neoliberal logic that treats information as consumer goods and prescribes training to achieve high marks in external evaluations.